


Different Paths

by SkySkySkylar



Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-30
Updated: 2013-12-30
Packaged: 2018-01-06 18:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1110294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkySkySkylar/pseuds/SkySkySkylar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What if our Thom ends up like that?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Different Paths

**Author's Note:**

> Malorie's Peak Prompt #2: Hauntings

“Ma, look what I can do!”  
  
As tired, hungry, and dirty as Alanna was, she smiled and gasped as four-year-old Thom ran into the stables with purple light pooling in his hands. It was the first magic she had seen him do; her first confirmation that he was Gifted.  
  
“Thom, how wonderful!” She knelt to give him a hug. As he ran into her arms, a horrible thought hit her. What if Thom followed in her brother’s footsteps? His magic had led to his demise, and done terrible things to the country. She pushed the thought away almost as soon as it appeared. Thom did not yet know the fate of his namesake. He was an excited four-year-old, not an over-ambitious man. He did not need to know her fears.  
  
“He started making light just a week ago, a few days after you left.” That was Maude, standing in the stable doorway with Alan on her hip and Aly by her side. “He’s been dying to show you since he learned.”  
  
“And he does it very well,” replied Alanna, ruffling Thom’s hair. Thom beamed up at her.  
  
After greeting the children, praising Thom some more, finishing Darkmoon’s grooming, and thanking Maude for the news that George had returned to the Swoop the day before, Alanna led her children to the nursery. There she left them under the care of Maude’s assistant and with orders to change out of their mud-splashed clothes before dinner. Then she went to change out of her own clothes and look for George. But George was in a meeting, and then Aly wanted her mother, and one thing led to another so that Alanna didn’t get the chance to talk about her fears with George until they were getting ready for bed.  
  
“So Thom has the Gift,” she said, pulling on her nightshirt.  
  
“And doesn’t he love it!” answered George.  
 _  
Her brother Thom clasped her hand, feverishly hot and glowing._  
  
“He insisted that I take him out after dark yesterday, so he could practice on the wall.”  
 _  
She held her brother, now alarmingly cold, as he went limp in her arms._  
  
“He tells me he’ll be as good as Numair someday.”  
 _  
She was ten. “I want to be the best,” said Thom.  
_  
Alanna sat down hard on the bed.  
  
“Alanna?” asked George.  
 __  
Her brother’s body was lowered slowly into the ground.  
  
Alanna burst out crying. George was beside her in an instant, his arms around her, his eyes peering into hers. “What’s wrong?”  
  
Alanna blew her nose. “What if he turns out like Thom?” she said through her tears.  
  
“If – oh, Lass, he won’t. We’ll make sure of it. And I don’t think he’ll have the chance to bring anyone back to life, anyway.”  
  
“But it wasn’t just that. He always wanted to be the best, always had to be better than the next person. If someone asked if he could do something, he would always have to prove he could. What if our Thom ends up like that?”  
  
George held her tighter. “You and your brother never had parents who loved you,” he said. “You had to prove things to yourselves. Our children won’t be like that. They’re loved, and always will be.”  
  
At that, Alanna cried even harder. George held her until she calmed down and they got read for bed.  
  
Although she knew George was right, Alanna still worried. She didn’t think she could bear seeing her oldest child go the same way her brother had.  
  
Years later, as Thom graduated from the University engaged to be married and turning down a prestigious position that would have set him on the path to power, Alanna smiled. Sitting at the celebration dinner, she realized she was finally free of worry. The feeling was a nice one. When she thought about it, she realized that images of her son and her brother hadn’t haunted her at all the last few years, and she was confident that they never would again.


End file.
